A team of researchers led by professor Hideo Hosono of the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a new type of alumina cement that conducts electricity like metal by altering the crystal structure at the nano level.

Ordinary alumina cement made from a lime-alumina compound (C12A7) has a crystal structure consisting of asymmetric cages, making it a poor conductor of electricity. But by sealing the alumina cement compound along with titanium inside a glass tube and heating it to 1,100 degrees Celsius, the researchers were able to create a homogenized, symmetrical cage structure that conducts electricity like metal.

Results indicate the cement's electrical conductivity is on par with that of manganese at room temperature. Moreover, like other metals, the cement's conductivity increases as its temperature decreases.

The researchers say that forming the cement into thin membranes would make it nearly transparent, making it an ideal substitute material for rare metals such as indium, which is used in plasma and liquid-crystal displays. In addition to being cheaper than rare metals, the cement would make an environmentally-friendly alternative because its ingredients are more readily available.

The Tokyo Institute of Technology worked with researchers from Osaka Prefecture University, the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (SPring-8) to develop the cement. The results are published in the April 11 edition of Nano Letters.

Ken

Brian

Or more commonly known as white Sapphire. Looks like a colorless diamoond, but not as shiny. Incredibly strong and hard. Also brittle. Easily manufactured, provided you have a modern pressurized furnace. Also known as white carborundum, and transparent carborundum.

Batmang

huy2k

Well, when i think of cement, i think of concrete, roads, pavement ect. Would be intereting to see if its possible to use roads/pavement as a method of conducting electical stuff such as telephone/intenet/power mains, or perhaps even power electric cars simular to the way trains/trams are. But then of course if it conducts as a metal, it would be just as feasable to put metal piping under the roads for the same purpose (ie. it'd need to be insulated or else people well get electrocuted). Wonder if its plausable to put this stuff under normal pavement to insulate it, then pass an alternating current through it and using the magnetic fields to move a motor above the surface somehow.

ptrckwd

Ryan

It's not road cement by a long shot. This would most likely be an adhesive in electronic parts... small applications. The article talks about its use in LCD and plasma displays as a replacement for rare metals.

Um, folks, I love Star Trek as much as the rest of y'all (double dumb-ass on you!) but didja take a look at how it's made? How much would it cost to uniformly (and, I suspect, anerobically) heat a sidewalk to 1,100 celsius, which is, might I remind you, is hot enough to melt aluminun, silicon, nickel, iron...

wowsers

Closest is aluminum and silicon at over 1200F for aluminum and silicon "starts" to slowly liquify at about 1400F and gets fairly less viscous around 2100F. Nickel needs about 2600F and iron melts at over 2700F.

Daeity

The only reason snow/ice stays on the surface is because the ground temperature is below 0 degrees. If you keep the surface at a constant 0.1 degrees (or anything higher), snow will constantly melt leaving roads free and clear.

There is already an effort underway to do this (ie, snow/ice resistant roadways) that will reshape the way roads are manufactured (living roads are grown, have chemical reaction that generates heat, stronger than concrete, long lifespan, much cheaper, faster deployment).

However, in this case, electrical resistance (in combination with solar panels) or the ramp system to generate electricity would work well.

user

Dr When

What a bunch of crack smoking, Ford Escort driving Digg Losers. Take a pretty neat development and watch some trailer trash retard steer the thread to sidewalks and melting snow/ice. Freakin' pathetic but oh so typical of today's minds cultivated with video games and Pop Tarts. Bunch of butt home surfers!!!

Steven R

I think the researcher's name is Hosono, not Hono. Here's the abstract of their report titled "Metallic State in a Lime-Alumina Compound with Nanoporous Structure":

We report a metallic state in a nanostructured porous crystal 12CaO.7Al2O3 by incorporating electrons in the inherent subnanometer-sized cages, in which a three-dimensionally closely packed cage structure acts as an electronic conduction path. High-density electron doping ( approximately 2 x 1021 cm-3), which was achieved by a thermal treatment in Ti metal vapor at approximately 1100 degrees C, induces homogenization of the cage geometry to a symmetric state, resulting in an insulator-metal transition with a sharp enhancement of the electron drift mobility from approximately 0.1 to 4 cm2 V-1 s-1. The results provide an approach for the realization of electroactive functions in materials composed only of environmentally benign elements by utilizing the appropriate nanostructures.

funkmelon

two words to those of you wanting to use this schtuff for sidewalks: prohibitively expensive. cement is a small amount of powder added to concrete. 95% of concrete is cheap aggregate (uh,rocks and sand) and therefore your idea of heated sidewalks and streets is bad from the start.

Ricardo

G

There has been as of yet no disclosed report as to what structual integrity that this substance would have in sheet form. a single membrain of it may be stable enough for use in a LCD or plasma screen, but how many membrains could be fused before transparency is lost / obscured, and what impact tolerance would this sheet have.

we could be looking at the next advancement in high security prison cells, or with correct application could be used as a future touch screen based visual display.

ing_arg

P RATHORE

Really intresting, Will some one tell me that ordinary portland cement used with building concrete structure is the material. Can I add cement with titanium(metal or or any compound of it?)
put in a steel enclosure and heat it upto 1000 degrees cel. will produce the required material. What is the ratio of mixing?
What shall be the cost of making a film 1 mm by 1 sq. mtr in area?
Thanks, Prefreably inventors are requested to reply.

Evradayimtrollin

So for this stuff has to be heated to 1100 degrees to melt snow? I thought snow melted at 23 degrees kelvin? My dad normally just puts salt down. Does the trick. Plus if you used this invisible stuff you couldn't see the road!